The New Jersey Devils won a shootout over the Philadelphia Flyers to bring up a 12th straight home victory in NHL action on Friday.
Brian Gionta, Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner scored in the shootout to give New Jersey a 5-4 win.
New Jersey broke a season-high five-game losing streak and moved back up to fourth in the Eastern Conference playoff standings.
Philadelphia's four-game winning streak ended, leaving the Flyers seventh in the East, three points ahead of Washington, which is in the last non-qualifying position of ninth.
Canadiens 4, Sabres 3, OT
In Buffalo, New York, Christopher Higgins scored 3:38 into overtime, capping Montreal's rally against Buffalo.
Montreal, which scored twice in the final three minutes, regained top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Canadiens lead Pittsburgh by one point.
The Sabres squandered a 3-1 third-period lead for the second straight home game, and their playoff hopes took another hit entering the final week of the season.
Stuck in 10th place, Buffalo is four points behind eighth-placed Boston and the postseason cutoff in the East.
Wild 4, Canucks 0
In St. Paul, Minnesota, the home side beat Vancouver to send the Canucks their fourth straight loss and a tie for eighth place in the Western Conference.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Brent Burns scored with the man advantage for the Wild, which stretched its lead in the Northwest Division to three points from Calgary and Colorado.
Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom posted his fourth shutout of the season and set a franchise record with 31 victories.
Predators 2, Blue Jackets 0
In Columbus, Ohio, Dan Ellis shut out Columbus for the second time in four days, and Nashville mastered the Blue Jackets again.
Jan Hlavac and Radek Bonk scored on consecutive shots in the second period.
In other games it was:
* Hurricanes 7, Thrashers 1
* Blues 4, Red Wings 3, OT
* Avalanche 5, Oilers 4, SO
* Sharks 3, Ducks 1
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